Utah could do more to promote civic engagement | Opinion



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For 200 years, strong civic engagement in the democratic process and civic improvement has served as a barometer of the vitality of the American republic. It is a question of good government: at the state level and at the local level, civic engagement has important implications for the effectiveness and efficiency of government, the quality of services and the responsiveness of public officials to citizens’ priorities.

A decline in civic engagement can reduce public sector accountability and produce a negative public spirit.

For Utah, the current state of civic engagement is mixed. This is a matter of concern that goes beyond simple questions of good governance, as civic engagement is a means of building social capital.

“Social capital” refers to the connections between people and between networks, which they can use for themselves and for the group as a whole. Low levels of social capital often lead to poor economic and social outcomes, both for individuals and for populations. Policymakers attempt to address these poor outcomes through various means, such as education reforms, electoral reforms, public assistance programs, and law enforcement interventions.

As social capital declines, the challenges become more acute – and sociologists across the political spectrum argue that social capital in the United States is in decline over the long term. But where social capital is relatively strong, it can translate into increased economic prospects and lower demands on the public sector.

Yet despite the importance of social capital, public attention to the factors that affect it may receive insufficient attention from the public and policy makers. The Utah Foundation recently launched its Utah Social Capital series to help give the issue the attention it deserves.

The first report is “The Measure of a Citizen: Civic Engagement in Utah. “ It presents data and analysis on three key measures of citizen engagement: electoral participation, citizen participation in public meetings and the number of advocacy organizations.

Voter turnout in Utah has improved in recent election cycles – after languishing near the lowest level nationwide. State rank jumped to 13e among the 50 states of the 2018 midterm elections. It probably has a lot to do with mail-in ballots. It may also be related to some interesting election initiatives that appeared on the 2018 ballot.

However, in the 2020 presidential election cycle, a nationwide push to allow home voting appears to have recalibrated things. In last year’s election, Utah’s participation ranked only 39e nationally and sixth among the eight mountain states.

It should be noted here that the success of the American experiment does not depend only on the number of votes cast, but on an informed electorate. Unfortunately, according to a fair-published the Annenberg poll, 44% of adults in the United States cannot name the three branches of government.

The American experience also depends on committed citizenship. Citizen participation in public meetings is probably a better indicator of civic engagement than filling out a postal voting form on the kitchen counter. And attending meetings is a major highlight for Utah. In 2019, Vermont and Maine were the only states in the country to surpass Utah in meeting attendance.

On the flip side, when it comes to the number of advocacy organizations, Utah has consistently been lower than the country as a whole over the past decade. In 2020, Utah’s 2.6 advocacy groups per 100,000 population ranked 43e in the nation.

The Utah Foundation compared our state to both the nation as a whole and the eight states in the region. Across all three civic engagement measures, Montana appears to be the best performing among the mountain states. Nevada is the worst performer.

Meanwhile, the citizens of Utah are showing up in the public forum and possibly making gains on the voting front. But it seems that we have room for improvement in the exercise of our rights, duties and privileges as citizens.

Peter Reichard is president of the Utah Foundation, a non-partisan, non-profit public policy research organization. Reach it at [email protected]. Find the new report, “The Measure of a Citizen,” at utahfoundation.org.

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